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9486 in the collection
Brien Gardiner, charter-school pioneer under federal investigation, commits suicide
Two stories here. Other reporters did not make the link to Vallas.
Here's the May 5 Philadelphia Inquirer page 1 headline: State sues cyber charter, alleging misuse of funds The Pennsylvania Department of Education has sued Agora Cyber Charter School in Devon, alleging its board misused millions of taxpayer dollars to benefit a company owned by the school's founder.
And this from Time magazine, March 20, 2000:
In Philadelphia, Nobel Learning Communities, which runs 145 private preschools and elementary schools in 13 states, launched its first public school, the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, in a former airplane-parts plant last fall. Nobel plans to open at least five more charter schools by the end of the year. "There is absolutely no way you'll make a profit unless you have a quality program," says A.J. Clegg, CEO of Nobel, which earned $1.6 million on revenues of $110 million last year. New wrinkles at Nobel's Philadelphia school include lessons in Mandarin Chinese for every student from kindergarten to eighth grade. Why Mandarin? "It's the cash language for the 21st century," explains principal Brien Gardiner, the school's co-founder.
Jim Horn reported on the charter looting on July 19, 2008.
This is the corporate variation on the theme of carpe diem. Homer Simpson says "Seize the Doughnut", forget about seizing the day. There doesn't seem to be much point in pontificating on the huge amounts of money out there in charter land. Just to wonder if this will make a few others pause a moment.
By Mensah M. Dean
BRIEN N. GARDINER, the former darling of Philadelphia's charter-school movement who fell from grace amid a financial scandal, shot himself to death yesterday afternoon in the parking lot of a SEPTA regional-rail station, police in Montgomery County said last night.
"There was a suicide, and there is going to be a press release [today] at 8:30 a.m.," Sgt. Scott Smith, of the Lower Moreland Township police, said.
Lower Moreland Chief Pete Hasson confirmed that Gardiner died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly before 1:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the Bethayres train station.
The embattled Gardiner, 63, was the subject of an active federal probe related to his management of Philadelphia Academy Charter School, the Northeast Philly school he founded in 1999.
The kindergarten through 12th grade school - with its lower grades located on Roosevelt Boulevard and its high school on Tomlinson Road - won quick praise from parents and school officials for its special-education instruction and strong state test scores.
Paul Vallas, former district chief executive officer, often cited Gardiner and his school as shining examples in the city's growing charter-school community.
"Paul respected him and thought very highly of him," said Joe Lyons, a district spokesman from 2004 to 2005. "Brien had a high school that was successful, and Paul liked that.
"I didn't really work with Brien, but I knew him by reputation, and his reputation was good," added Lyons, communications director for the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School.
"Definitely a tragic situation," Lawrence Jones, president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, said of Gardiner's passing.
"When I came into the charter-school movement, he was one of the first people that I met," said Jones, who is also chief executive officer of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School. "Everybody knew him.
"He was a pioneer and a contributor, especially in the early years of the charter-school movement," Jones said.
In 2005, Gardiner opened a second school, Northwood Academy Charter, on Castor Avenue, and served as its first chief executive.
Last year allegations surfaced that Gardiner, of Huntingdon Valley, was giving jobs to relatives and was using his schools to enrich himself through various business arrangements.
The feds and Jack Downs, the district's inspector general, are investigating the allegations.
Gardiner, who was no longer employed by either school, had not been charged with any crime.
One year ago today, the Inquirer reported that Gardiner had a $108,000-a-year consulting agreement with Camelot Schools of Pennsylvania, which has a multimillion-dollar contract with the district to operate three schools.
That fee was in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars that Gardiner had collected from companies tied to Philadelphia Academy Charter School, the paper reported.
Last year, Philadelphia Academy's board complied with a host of conditions made by the School Reform Commission last year that were meant to prevent the type of financial and management issues that led to Gardiner's ouster.
Charter schools are approved by local school districts, which fund them, but are operated as independent schools. That independence is part of what has helped the city's charter-school community to grow from four schools in 1997 to 63 schools today. Six new charters have been approved to open in September.
A small but growing number of the schools, however, have become entangled in scandals of their operators' making. In addition to Gardiner's situation, the most serious to date are those at Germantown Settlement Charter and Renaissance Charter.
The district cited both schools for numerous financial and academic infractions, and has been given permission from the state to shut them down by the end of next month. This will mark the first time that the district will have shut down charter schools.
Jones said that he did not want to speculate as to whether Gardiner's suicide was prompted by the investigation.
"At this point in time this has nothing to do with the charter-school community," he said.
"I don't think any of us will ever know why someone would take this drastic, violent step. My only concern is with his family."
Despite his suicide, Gardiner case will continue
By Mensah M. Dean
Though Brien N. Gardiner ended his life Wednesday afternoon, the investigations into his alleged financial looting of the Philadelphia Academy Charter School are still on track.
"Basically, the investigation is continuing," Jack Downs, the school district's inspector general, said yesterday. "It's not done."
Downs said that his investigation, which is being conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education, began last spring.
Besides Gardiner, investigators are looking at Kevin O'Shea, who once served as chief executive of Gardiner's school, and D. June Brown, who operates several Philadelphia charter schools, Downs said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office also is investigating, but a spokeswoman declined to comment.
The corruption case of late attorney Ron White, however, suggests that Gardiner may be dropped from the federal probe. After his 2004 death, the U.S. Attorney's Office dropped charges against White, who had been a friend and fundraiser for then-Mayor John Street.
What is clear about Gardiner is that those who knew and respected him spent yesterday trying to come to terms with his death.
Several events scheduled for yesterday were still listed on the Web site of one of the schools he founded, Philadelphia Academy in the Northeast, including a Board of Trustees meeting and sophomore trip to Baltimore.
Nothing indicating Gardiner's death was listed in the "news" section of the Web site, though he was very much on the minds of those at the school, with which he was no longer affiliated at the time of his death.
"This is uncharted water for us," said Larry Sperling, the school's chief executive officer.
"The fact that Brien was under investigation, I don't know how appropriate it would be to put something up there. I told all the teachers to say a prayer for him."
Shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Lower Moreland police went to the Bethayres commuter train station where they found Gardiner, 63, lying in a grassy area adjacent to a parking lot near the railroad tracks.
Gardiner's body was not far from his black Mercedes Benz, Police Lt. Kevin Dillion said.
Gardiner lived with his wife and children, including a two-year-old son, on Kent Road, in Philadelphia, Dillion said. The street borders Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County.
Gardiner founded Philadelphia Academy in 1999, Northwood Academy Charter in 2005 and served for a time as both schools' chief executive officer.
Last year, allegations surfaced that he was using Philadelphia Academy to provide family members with jobs and to enrich himself through various business arrangements. The fallout led to the investigations.
Yesterday, however, Gardiner was remembered at Philadelphia Academy as a dedicated educator and good leader.
"It was somber, somber," said Sperling, who met Gardiner 20 years ago when both worked for the city school district.
"He was universally loved by the teachers and parents. We have a great school because of him."
— Mensah M. Dean
Philadelphia Daily News
-05-14
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